Northern Michigan University’s Josie Lakosky, left, makes a move around the back of the Concordia-St. Paul net while defended by the Golden Bears' Ruby Swenson and would bring it around to the front of the net to score during their GLIAC match played at the Superior Dome in Marquette on April 4. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

ALLENDALE — The lacrosse team at Northern Michigan University set itself up for the ultimate moment of its season on Sunday, when the Wildcats were set to take on mighty Grand Valley State for the tournament title in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

They got there by defeating Concordia-St. Paul 15-7 in the GLIAC Tournament semifinals at the GVSU field on Friday evening.

Interestingly, that was the exact same score that NMU defeated C-SP by six days earlier to end the regular season in St. Paul, Minnesota, and only one goal different from their score — 16-7 — when those teams met in Marquette on the first Saturday of April.

This marks the fourth straight season Northern has advanced to the league tourney title tilt, and not so coincidentally, the fourth consecutive time they’ll take on the Lakers for that crown.

That’s because Grand Valley has either won outright or shared the GLIAC regular-season championship in all 13 years the conference has offered the sport. And it was just one time that the Lakers were forced to share, in 2017.

It would prove to be an uphill battle for NMU going up against GVSU — the Lakers have won all 21 of their past meetings, outscoring the Wildcats by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 since the Northern program was inaugurated as a varsity sport in 2017. It includes a 9-4 win by Grand Valley in Allendale on March 27 and a much narrower 9-8 triumph in Marquette on April 12.

If there’s one silver lining, it’s that three times Grand Valley hasn’t won the tourney title even after winning the regular season in past years.

On Friday, the Wildcats took care of business in the second half, turning a 4-4 score early in the third quarter into a much more comfortable 10-4 margin by the end of the period to improve to 12-5 this season.

The teams alternated goals for much of the final quarter, something that would keep Northern comfortably ahead.

NMU’s usual suspects provided the major portion of its offense, top national scorer Josie Lakosky accounting for 11 points with five goals and six assists, a fairly unusual statistic for assists in a sport when somewhere around half the goals are unassisted.

Teammate Avery Lorinser has also caught fire as of late, on this day actually leading Wildcats’ scoring with six goals while adding a pair of assists for eight points.

“It’s special to have two attackers who are in the same (year in school), have grown up and spent a lot of time together, they know how to play off of each other and feed the other (really well),” NMU head coach Lindsey (LeMay) Majkrzak said in an NMU news release about Friday’s game. “Josie obviously draws so much attention, but honestly, that makes Avery play even better because they can create off of each other.

“They’re both moving so well right now.”

Mother Nature was probably trying to make Northern feel right at home, except she forgot that the Wildcats play their home games indoors in the Superior Dome. Friday saw cloudy skies with temperatures struggling to get in the 40s, and with blustery winds and even a brief snow flurry.

That may have led to an unusual goalless first period before Lorinser and teammate Evita Weiche opened the scoring with goals 48 seconds apart in the first two minutes of the second quarter.

That meant NMU kept the lead throughout the first half, though by never more than those two goals as Lorinser added her second goal just past the midpoint of quarter No. 2 and Lakosky got her first of the day in the final minute before intermission, making it 4-2 Northern at the break.

Then the Golden Bears (6-10) knocked in a pair of unassisted goals by Shelby Marik and Sydney Smith in the first five minutes of the second half to knot the score, then getting a man-up opportunity after that for an excellent chance to take their first lead.

But the Wildcats’ Natalie Thomas forced a crucial turnover during that stretch and spearheaded a drive in the other direction for NMU’s go-ahead goal by Lorinser, according to NMU SI. It apparently started an avalanche of scoring, Northern pumping in six unanswered goals in less than 7 1/2 minutes that gave the Wildcats a six-goal bulge at the end of the third.

“Natalie has been so incredible this year,” Majkrzak said. “She’s really taken off and has been able to cause turnovers when we need them.

“That was such a huge moment, and it’s really hard to kill penalties, especially against teams like C-SP that shoot a lot.

“Defense creates offense, and (our whole defensive group) did a great job all game shutting down their best players. A big turnover like that, leading to a fast-break goal, is really cool.”

While C-SP’s Alayna Roehl scored the first goal of the final period, NMU answered with goals by Lakosky and Hannah Grimm within 2 1/2 minutes to all but decide the outcome. The Lakosky goal was her 100th this season, the first Wildcat ever to do that.

Northern goalkeeper Lauren Esposito finished with six saves, while Bears counterpart Marge Lucio had five as NMU held a 30-22 advantage in total shots and 20-13 in shots on goal.

The Wildcats doubled the opposition in draw controls, 16-8, while holding a 25-20 edge in ground balls and were even in turnovers, 19-19.

As has been her custom, Lakosky led NMU in draw controls with eight, adding in three ground balls and two caused turnovers as she took 11 shots, eight of them on goal.

Lorinser had 10 shots, seven on goal, to get to her half-dozen goals.

Roberts finished with four draw controls, while Sophie Langsdale led the Wildcats with three caused turnovers as five teammates including Lakosky had two apiece. Langsdale and Thomas had four ground balls with Mya Snyder getting three.

While Grimm, Weiche, Abby Sisson and Hannah Jabas each had a single goal for NMU, no C-SP player scored more than two goals.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press releases reviewing and previewing the games. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.